Today’s organizations expect their enterprise campus networks to deliver more services to more users at a lower cost. These services include next-generation business applications as well as anytime, anywhere access for mobile devices. At the same time, campus networks must be able to scale easily to meet future demands and efficiently evolve within dynamic business environments.

Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches come with three years of technical support from the Brocade Technical Assistance Center and software maintenance updates. With these capabilities, organizations gain peace of mind while freeing up IT budget and resources to grow their businesses.

Automated Deployment and Management

Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches help simplify network deployment and management by enabling auto-discovery of new Brocade ICX switches within the stack. IT organizations can auto-configure switches using pre-set instructions on the network. To further simplify management, these stacked switches collectively utilize only a single IP address and offer transparent forwarding across the stack.

High Availability and Resiliency

Brocade Ethernet switch stacking technology helps IT organizations meet growing user demands by delivering high availability through real-time state synchronization across the stack and instantaneous hitless failover support. In addition, organizations can use hot-insertion and removal of stack members to avoid interrupting network service when adding or replacing a switch. High-performance Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs) increase 10 GbE uplink bandwidth and redundancy to the core, giving users uninterrupted high performance to support the most demanding applications. Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches also offer an external power supply for added resiliency and increased PoE/PoE+ port availability.

Compact Switch Solution for Deployment Outside the Wiring Closet

The Brocade ICX 6430-C/6450-C Compact Switch offers enterprise-class LAN switching capabilities, performance, reliability, security, and manageability in a small form factor with fanless operation for deployment outside the wiring closet. It is ideal for deployment in classrooms, retail locations, factories, small offices, workgroup, and space-constrained environments. The Brocade ICX 6430-C/6450-C is available in a 12-port 10/100/1000 Mbps model with IEEE 802.3af PoE and 802.3at PoE+ support on four ports plus four additional 1 GbE uplink ports. Additionally, the Brocade ICX 6450-C can be powered either from its internal AC power supply or with PoE/PoE+ power, coming from one or both of its two RJ45 uplink ports., This enables the switch to be deployed in areas where no AC power outlet is present and provides increased deployment flexibility.

In the enterprise, the Brocade ICX 6430-C/6450-C Compact Switch can be used to extend the reach of the network outside the wiring closet, bringing connectivity to more users and supporting additional wireless AP deployment without running more wires. Additionally, the Brocade ICX 6450-C offers Layer 3 routing and GRE support enabling secure and flexible deployment in remote areas. To simplify deployment in-situ, the Brocade ICX 6430-C/6450-C offers flexible mounting options, such as wall brackets and a magnetic mount kit.

Features

Stacking Technology for the Most Demanding Campus Network Environments

Brocade Ethernet switch stacking technology makes it possible to stack up to eight Brocade ICX 6450 Switches into a single logical switch (except the Brocade ICX 6450-C), providing simple and robust expandability for future growth at the network edge. This stacked switch has only a single IP address to simplify management and offers transparent forwarding across a pool of up to 384 1 GbE ports and 32 10 GbE ports. When new switches join the stack, they automatically inherit the stack’s existing configuration file, enabling true plug-and-play network expansion. Flexible licensing of 1 GbE to 10 GbE ports for uplink and stacking allows organizations to optimize network performance based on specific requirements. Brocade stacking technology also delivers high availability, enabling instantaneous hitless failover to a standby stack controller if the master stack controller fails. In addition, organizations can use hot-insertion/removal of stack members to avoid interrupting network services.

For networks with lower bandwidth requirements, the Brocade ICX 6430 offers the same rugged stacking capability (except the Brocade ICX 6430-C) at a reduced price, providing a lower density solution of up to 192 1 GbE Access Ports (APs) with 16 1 GbE uplink and stacking ports with a maximum stack height of four switches.

Built to Power Next-Generation Edge Devices

The Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 can deliver both PoE power and data across network connections, providing a single-cable solution for the latest edge devices. Brocade ICX switches are compatible with industry-standard Voice over IP (VoIP) equipment as well as legacy IP phones. In addition, they support the PoE+ standard (IEEE 802.3at) to provide up to Class 4 (30 watts) power to each device. This high-powered solution simplifies wiring for next-generation edge devices, such as video conferencing and VoIP phones, surveillance cameras, and 802.11n wireless APs. The PoE capability reduces the number of power receptacles and power adapters while increasing reliability and wiring flexibility. The Brocade ICX 6450 can provide PoE power to all ports and PoE+ (30 watts) to all ports when an external power supply is deployed.

The LLDP protocols also reduce operational costs by simplifying and automating network operations. For example, LLDP-MED provides an open protocol for configuring Quality of Service (QoS), security policies, Virtual LAN (VLAN) assignments, PoE power levels, and service priorities.

Cost-Optimized Cooling Options

The Brocade ICX 6430 48-port and Brocade ICX 6450 24- and 48-port switches offer industry-standard side-to-back airflow with quiet fans at less than 40 dB (except the Brocade ICX 6450-48P). The Brocade ICX 6430-C/ICX6450-C and 6430-24 Switches are available in a fanless configuration, helping to minimize sound and costs for deployments where users are present, such as classrooms and open office environments.

Simplified Deployment with Auto-Configuration

Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches support auto-configuration, simplifying deployment with a truly plug-and-play experience. Organizations can use this feature to automate IP address and feature configuration without requiring a highly trained network engineer onsite. When the switches power up, they automatically receive an IP address and configuration from DHCP and Trivial File Transport Protocol (TFTP) servers. At this time, the switches can also automatically receive a software update to be at the same code revision as currently installed switches.

Open-Standards Management

Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches include an industry-standard Command Line Interface (CLI) and support Secure Shell (SSHv2), Secure Copy (SCP), and SNMPv3 to restrict and encrypt management communications to the system. In addition, support for Terminal Access Controller Access Control System (TACACS/TACACS+) and RADIUS authentication helps ensure secure operator access. Embedded Web management is also provided through a GUI-based device interface, and organizations can use Brocade Network Advisor to achieve full device and network management visibility.

Out-of-Band Management

Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches include a 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 Ethernet port dedicated for out-of-band management, providing a remote path to manage the switches, regardless of the status or configuration of the data ports.

Managing enterprise campus networks continues to become more complex due to the growth in services that rely on wired and wireless networks. Services such as Internet, e-mail, video conferencing, real-time collaboration, and distance learning all have specific configuration and management requirements. At the same time, organizations face increasing demand to provide uninterrupted services for high-quality voice and Unified Communications (UC), wireless mobility, and multimedia applications.

To reduce complexity and the time spent managing these environments, the easy-to-use Brocade Network Advisor discovers, manages, and deploys configurations to groups of IP devices. By using the Brocade Network Advisor tool, organizations can configure Virtual LANs (VLANs) within the network, manage wireless access points and execute CLI commands on specific IP devices or groups of IP devices. sFlow-based proactive monitoring is ideal for performing network-wide troubleshooting, generating traffic reports, and gaining visibility into network activity from the edge to the core. Brocade Network Advisor centralizes management of the entire family of Brocade wired products and Aruba wireless products.

Best-in-Class Support

Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches are supported by next-business-day advance replacement where available, as well as software defect repairs and maintenance updates. In an effort to further improve service levels and operational efficiency, Brocade includes three years of technical support for Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches, providing direct access to the Brocade Technical Assistance Center during normal 8×5 business hours.